Pilot (Millennium)
Renowned FBI profiler Frank Black retires to Seattle with his family and becomes a member of the Millennium Group, a secretive team of men who were once law enforcement officers. Using his incredible profiling skills, Black helps in an effort to catch a vicious murderer who believes he is fulfilling apocalyptic prophecies. Summary Teaser DOWNTOWN SEATTLE FEBRUARY 2, 1996 A man wearing a baseball cap enters the Ruby Tip club in rainy Seattle, in 1996. Inside, he secretly watches an off-duty stripper leave the premises. Another woman, Tuesday, enters the club, ready to begin work. She later makes smalltalk with another stripper, Calamity, in the dancers' changing room and Calamity tells Tuesday that a weird French guy, who they both know, is back. Wearing only underwear, Tuesday later seductively dances, in a room with other strippers, as the Frenchman - the man wearing the baseball cap - watches her from behind one of many windows. After Calamity has ended her shift, she reluctantly gives a private dance to the Frenchman during which he mumbles obscure phrases and sees visions of her, surrounded by blood and fire. Act One On a sunshiny day, Frank, Catherine and Jordan Black - members of the Black family - joyously arrive at their new home, a house that Frank has recently had painted yellow. Shortly after, Frank meets his cheerful new neighbor, Jack Meredith, outside the house. Frank mentions that his family have been in Washington, D.C. for the past ten years, although he and his wife are originally from Seattle. After Jack leaves, Frank looks at a newspaper delivered to the house and notices an article about Calamity's murder, headlined "Mother Found Murdered in Home". SEATTLE PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING Frank visits the office of a friendly former workmate, Lieutenant Bob Bletcher, who introduces Frank to three detectives in the room, including Bob Geibelhouse. Bletcher refers to Frank as having become "a big star at the FBI" and Geibelhouse is vaguely familiar with him. After drawing Bletcher out of the room, Frank asks him about the recent murder, learning that the victim was a stripper and that her daughter is now safely in custody, never having witnessed the murder. Bletcher is surprised that Frank seems to be looking for work and admits that he has heard Frank's ten-year stint on sexual homicide cases pushed him into an early retirement. At Frank's request, Bletcher takes him to the morgue. There, they talk with Pathologist Massey, who is about to reveal the corpse when Frank stops him. Frank sees vivid visions of the murder and voices a great deal of information about the incident, including that the killer severed Calamity's head. Bletcher still has to specifically tell Frank that two head hairs from a black male were lifted from the corpse. Nevertheless, both Bletcher and Massey are impressed and perplexed that Frank has managed to divine so much information, but Frank simply walks away. Bletcher catches up to him in a stairwell, where Frank warns that the killer will strike again and suggests involving an experienced consulting group that he is working with. Frank visits the Ruby Tip club and enters a booth to speak to Tuesday. He experiences difficulty with interviewing her, however, such as her initially mistaking him for being a client. After seeing a brief vision of Calamity amid blood and flames, Frank begins to exit the booth but turns back to Tuesday when she starts to tell him about the Frenchman, including the fact that he holds up French poetry to the window and paid Calamity for a private dance. Tuesday also shows Frank a camera in his booth. At night, the Frenchman drives under a bridge and later walks through a nearby park; both locations are gay cruising areas. In the park, the Frenchman begins to see the passerby as having stitches over their facial orifices and he starts to hyperventilate. He returns to his car in a panic. Another man hails the vehicle, without speaking, and the Frenchman allows the man to enter before slowly starting to drive away. Under a low bridge later that night, the Frenchman drags his passenger - who is now lifeless and bloody - out of the vehicle and into the cars' trunk. Act Two The next morning, Frank and his daughter happily discuss breeds of dog. Frank and his wife, Catherine, tease one another before Frank answers a call from Bletcher, who requests Frank's assistance with a recently-discovered corpse. Once Frank enters a woodland crime scene, Bletcher tells him about the body, describing it as badly-charred. Defying Geibelhouse's expectations, Frank passes up an offer to view the body. He nevertheless sees visions of the victim being burned alive. He claims the latest victim was set alight by their wanted killer and leads the investigation to a nearby river, where the group find a closed makeshift coffin, marked with the word "peste". Frank accurately predicts, before the coffin is opened, that it is empty. As they later drive through the pouring rain, Bletcher lets Frank know that an associate of Frank's, Peter Watts, visited the morgue earlier that day, although Frank himself has never spoken to Watts. Frank confirms Bletcher's suspicion that the Millennium Group is the consulting organization he is working with, adding that the Group includes former law enforcement officers and some retired FBI agents. Frank confesses that he has joined the current investigation because he wants to protect his family and, before Bletcher leaves, Frank jokes that he is simply a lucky-guesser. That night, Frank arrives outside his new home. Peter Watts announces his presence, introducing himself. As they talk, Catherine momentarily checks on Frank, who assures her that he won't be long. Watts reveals that he alone found a needle puncture on the incinerated body, suggesting the possibility of injection, and notifies Frank that the Group has confidence in him. In the yellow house soon thereafter, Catherine wordily warns Frank that he can't keep the dangers of the real world from the lives of both her and their young daughter. Frank asks his wife to make believe that he can do just that, however. Later that night, he creeps downstairs, to an office area. Repeatedly watching video footage of the Frenchman at the Ruby Tip club, Frank works on deciphering the killer's words. He notices that Calamity had a tiny needle puncture mark and discovers that the word "peste" is not only on the empty coffin but is also on the underside of the bridge that the Frenchman visited earlier. Frank visits both the area below the bridge, and the park. Like the Frenchman did earlier, he sees visions of passerby, in the park, with stitches on their faces. He also notices the Frenchman making a return visit to the park and a chase ensues, leading through the park and onto the bridge, where both men dodge traffic. Although Frank loses track of the killer, a driver tells him that the Frenchman jumped off the bridge. Frank does not see the killer in the water below, as the Frenchman is clinging to a section of the bridge's underside. Act Three At the Seattle Public Safety Building, Frank presents his findings to a roomful of investigators, including Bletcher and his fellow detectives. Frank explains that the murderer is obsessed with apocalyptic prophecies, as demonstrated by the obscure phrases the Frenchman said in the strip club as well as the killer's use of the word "peste". Frank also says that the Frenchman sees himself as righteous but is maddened by twisted sexual guilt, angry at women and very confused. As the other investigators are convinced that the actual killer is a black man, they doubt Frank's interpretation of the case. Bletcher sides with his associated personnel and refuses to accept Frank's account as fact so Frank leaves the room, heading home to his family. Just as Frank starts to drive out of the building's basement parking lot in the rain, Bletcher steps in front of Frank's red Cherokee car and orders Frank to reveal how he is so sure of the killer's identity. Frank finally admits that he can see what the killer sees. He describes this ability as both his gift and his curse, as well as the reason he retired. Bletcher urges Frank to leave law enforcement again but Frank answers that he already tried to. He avoids telling Bletcher what brought him back, instead proceeding to depart. Frank arrives at the yellow house to find its front door ajar and the building abandoned. Urgently seeking his wife and daughter, Frank heads outside in the rain. There, Jack Meredith races up to him and relays news that Jordan has suffered a seizure. Frank meets Catherine in the hospital where Jordan has been taken and Catherine details Jordan's condition for Frank, as they walk to their daughter's ward. Jordan is asleep and has symptoms, including a high fever, that the medical staff suspect are due to an extreme flu reaction. Later that night, Frank and Catherine are sleeping in the same ward as their daughter when a night nurse enters and takes some blood from Jordan. Frank wakes up and stares at the nurse's activities. After Catherine subsequently awakens and asks him what is wrong, Frank announces his realization that the Frenchman is taking blood from his victims and has more bodies buried alive. Catherine approvingly tells him to go, so he hurries away. Act Four The team of investigators are searching the riverside in the dark and cold when Bletcher notifies Frank that he is about to call the search off, planning to return in daylight. Worrying that the victims could be dead by then, Frank wades across the river, reluctantly followed by Bletcher. On the other side, Bletcher finds another coffin, from which he and Frank free a terribly-pained man bearing stitches on his mouth and eyes - which have been sewn together - as well as his wrists. Responding to Bletcher shouting for urgent assistance, his team hurry to cross the river, as Bletcher withdraws more evidence from the coffin - a plastic bag containing Calamity's severed head. Frank warns that there may be other victims, so the searchers begin to hunt the surrounding area. Later in Bletcher's office, Geibelhouse lets Frank know that two other empty coffins were found. Bletcher informs Frank and Geibelhouse that the man with stitches just gave a description of his attacker that matches the Frenchman and reported that the wrongdoer was taking blood, confirming Frank's conclusions. After Geibelhouse leaves to disperse these details, Frank comments that the Frenchman is passing judgment on his victims, probably by testing their blood. Bletcher and Frank talk in confidence, both men remarking on the shocking nature of the recent case and the crimes they have both investigated. Finally admitting the issue that influenced him to retire, Frank recounts that - a year after capturing an elusive killer named Ed Cuffle, who had sent many Polaroids of his victims to the police - he himself received an anonymous letter containing various Polaroids of Catherine, causing him to become intensely afraid. He describes Jordan as a miracle; both her parents were not meant to have been able to conceive. Frank also reveals that the Millennium Group helped him beat his fear, by helping him understand the nature of his ability, and that they are concerned with preparing for an apocalyptic event. After Bletcher exits, Frank takes a phone call for the lieutenant, intending to note down a message. He learns startling news, however - that the killer's blood samples not only have been found in a downtown lab but were also sent from the same institute, dispatched intra-office. In search of Bletcher, Frank hurries through the building and ends up in the morgue, where he comes across the Frenchman. Shouting, the killer attempts to convince him into believing the apocalyptic prophesies, all the while trying to attack Frank. Bletcher shows up and kills the murderer, saving Frank's life in the process. The Frenchman's final words are a cautioning that such an apocalyptic event cannot be stopped. Frank brings a puppy home for his daughter while Catherine is preparing to attend an interview. Both Catherine and Jordan separately fawn over the puppy. Frank discovers an anonymous letter in the family's mail but keeps it secret from his wife, who passes him on her way out. He privately opens the letter to find it contains Polaroids of Catherine and Jordan in Seattle. Background Information *A novelization of this episode written by author Elizabeth Hand was titled "The Frenchman". Subsequently, the episode is also referred to by that alternate name. Links and References Guest Cast Guest Starring * Bill Smitrovich as Lieutenant Bob Bletcher * Terry O'Quinn as Peter Watts * Paul Dillon as the Frenchman * Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black * Stephen E. Miller as Detective Roger Kamm * Stephen J. Lang as Detective Bob Geibelhouse * Kate Luyben as Tuesday * April Telek as Calamity Co-Starring * Don MacKay as Jack Meredith * Mike Puttonen as Pathologist Massey * Jarred Blancard as Young Man at Ruby Tip Featuring * Jim Thorburn as Coffin Man * Kimm Wakefield as Young Woman * John Destry as Driver on Bridge * Liza Huget as Nurse * Jim Filippone as Chopper Pilot Uncredited * Fawnia Mondey as Ruby Tip Stripper References Millennium Group; Ruby Tip; Seattle; FBI; Leon Cole Piggett Category:Millennium episodes